[SOLVED] Need help with overclocking 2600 on b450 tomahawk!

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ProPlayerGR

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Hello everyone. I have a ryzen 5 2600 and a b450 tomahawk and I want to oc the cpu to 4ghz. Can someone help me? I change the cpu ratio to 40.00(4000mhz) and when I try to go change the cpu core voltage it gives me two options to choose from; override mode and offset mode. Which one should I click? Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Quick and dirty overview of overclocking validation procedure.

Set CPU multiplier and voltage at desired settings in BIOS. Do not use presets or automatic utilities. These will overcompensate on core and other voltages. It is much better to configure most core settings manually, and leave anything left over on auto until a later point in time if wish to come back and tweak settings such as cache (Uncore) frequency, System agent voltage, VCCIO (Internal memory controller) and memory speeds or timings (RAM) AFTER the CPU overclock is fully stable.

Save bios settings (As a new BIOS profile if your bios supports multiple profiles) and exit bios.

Boot into the Windows desktop environment. Download and install Prime95...
You don't need to overclock.

It does take a lot, a lot of time to overclock correctly.

Some people do it for better performance, some people like me do it as a hobby.

I recently spent days trying to overclock my ram to 3400mhz. Tons of different voltages, timings, etc.
I spent hours testing only to find my ram was never going to be very stable at 3400mhz and i reverted to the stable 3333mhz i had before.
 

ProPlayerGR

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You don't need to overclock.

It does take a lot, a lot of time to overclock correctly.

Some people do it for better performance, some people like me do it as a hobby.

I recently spent days trying to overclock my ram to 3400mhz. Tons of different voltages, timings, etc.
I spent hours testing only to find my ram was never going to be very stable at 3400mhz and i reverted to the stable 3333mhz i had before.
I just want to try it as well. However I don't like waiting for hours to see if it's stable. While gaming my 2600 on its own runs at 3.75ghz, so will I benefit from a 4ghz oc?
 
If you are not willing to put in the hours of work to validate the stability of an overclock, then you DON'T overclock. Overclocking without doing the work to validate is simply ASKING for corruption of your files or other problems such as random errors and even damage to your hardware. If you can't be bothered to do the work, leave things at the stock configuration.
 

ProPlayerGR

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If you are not willing to put in the hours of work to validate the stability of an overclock, then you DON'T overclock. Overclocking without doing the work to validate is simply ASKING for corruption of your files or other problems such as random errors and even damage to your hardware. If you can't be bothered to do the work, leave things at the stock configuration.
Isn't just a cpu test on cinebench r15 enough to validate the stability of the overclock?
 
Isn't just a cpu test on cinebench r15 enough to validate the stability of the overclock?


Not even remotely true. Cinebench, as you were told already, is a benchmarking tool. It's not a stress test. It's not a stability testing utility. It's for benchmarking performance ONLY.

The Realbench stress test option, that is for testing stability.

Prime95 with AVX and AVX2 disabled, choosing the Blend mode option, that is for testing stability, as is the custom configuration found in my memory guide.

There are a few others out there as well, but those are two of the primary ones that are easily done by most users even if they lack advanced skills in this area.
 

ProPlayerGR

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Not even remotely true. Cinebench, as you were told already, is a benchmarking tool. It's not a stress test. It's not a stability testing utility. It's for benchmarking performance ONLY.

The Realbench stress test option, that is for testing stability.

Prime95 with AVX and AVX2 disabled, choosing the Blend mode option, that is for testing stability, as is the custom configuration found in my memory guide.

There are a few others out there as well, but those are two of the primary ones that are easily done by most users even if they lack advanced skills in this area.
Is it ok to run prime95 while I'm sleeping or while I am at work?
 
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I like offset mode as it allows you to easily know exactly what the voltage will be.
...
I really prefer over-ride mode for that as that allows direct entry of the desired overclocking voltage. Where-as offset mode means I have to add the value of the offset to an always uncertain (to me) base value to come up with what I think the new base voltage should be after re-booting. Using off-set becomes an iterative process: adjust it, reboot and measure it to see if it's OK then adjust and reboot again.

But even whith its hassle I preferred using offset on my 1700 with B450 Mortar because it allowed VCore to drop to low levels when idle where-as setting a voltage in over-ride meant the VCore would be a fixed value at all times. It doesn't do that with the current 3700X but I'm not sure whether it's the processor or the BIOS/AGESA changes that brought that about.
 
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Is it ok to run prime95 while I'm sleeping or while I am at work?
I'd try to avoid Prime95 unless you want to de-rate the system to a very high level of assured stability. You'd do that for a system that has to maintain very high availability or will be located in a dusty, hostile environment, like tucked away in a dusty cabinet with bad airflow. It uses extremely unrealistic and highly optimized processing patterns that just do not appear in real world applications.

I'd suggest a real-world work load type of stability test, something like RealBench. This test simultaneously runs several demanding real-world applications (Zipping/UnZipping files, Handbrake video encoding, Blender rendering, LUxmark GPU/CPU rendering) that test all of the computer, including memory, video card and even PSU, by using very realistic and varying routines. I run it for two hour test at least, then an overnight with Folding@Home (so it's doing something useful for the power it's using!) to be sure cooling won't saturate and let CPU temperatures climb.
 
Personally, I always prefer a manually entered value for core voltage, in most cases. But I don't think that board has an option for LLC which is why I recommended the offset option. If that board has LLC then overriding the core voltage would be the better choice.
 
I really prefer over-ride mode for that as that allows direct entry of the desired overclocking voltage. Where-as offset mode means I have to add the value of the offset to an always uncertain (to me) base value to come up with what I think the new base voltage should be after re-booting. Using off-set becomes an iterative process: adjust it, reboot and measure it to see if it's OK then adjust and reboot again.

But even whith its hassle I preferred using offset on my 1700 with B450 Mortar because it allowed VCore to drop to low levels when idle where-as setting a voltage in over-ride meant the VCore would be a fixed value at all times. It doesn't do that with the current 3700X but I'm not sure whether it's the processor or the BIOS/AGESA changes that brought that about.
My bad. I meant override mode.
 
Running Prime for 30 minutes doesn't tell you anything, ever. If you can't run one of the Prime tests, specific to WHAT you are trying to do (Small FFT for thermal testing. Blend or custom configuration for stability testing) for 7 or 8 hours then you are just wasting your time to even run it.

Cinebench is no assurance of stability anyhow, although, if it crashes it's certainly probably either not stable OR you have a driver issue somewhere.

Realbench, on the stress test option, is a much better measuring stick. 8 hours. Anything else is a waste of time.
 
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Nihilanth

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On my 2600/tomahawk I got a stable 4.2ghz/1.375v 65 - 70°C while running prime for 30 mins but crashes when running cinebench (go figure). 4.1ghz seems to be the sweet spot without messing around anymore.

I've had Prime fail after 3-4 hours. Not saying you need to run it for an entire weekend, but 30 mins isn't nearly enough to be sure your OC's stable.

And I'd test that 4.1GHz OC if I were you. It might very well be stable but you can't be sure unless you test it properly. I've had OCs I thought were stable fail in some random game or application a few weeks down the line.
 

ProPlayerGR

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Running Prime for 30 minutes doesn't tell you anything, ever. If you can't run one of the Prime tests, specific to WHAT you are trying to do (Small FFT for thermal testing. Blend or custom configuration for stability testing) for 7 or 8 hours then you are just wasting your time to even run it.

Cinebench is no assurance of stability anyhow, although, if it crashes it's certainly probably either not stable OR you have a driver issue somewhere.

Realbench, on the stress test option, is a much better measuring stick. 8 hours. Anything else is a waste of time.
Which test should I run with prime95?
 
Quick and dirty overview of overclocking validation procedure.

Set CPU multiplier and voltage at desired settings in BIOS. Do not use presets or automatic utilities. These will overcompensate on core and other voltages. It is much better to configure most core settings manually, and leave anything left over on auto until a later point in time if wish to come back and tweak settings such as cache (Uncore) frequency, System agent voltage, VCCIO (Internal memory controller) and memory speeds or timings (RAM) AFTER the CPU overclock is fully stable.

Save bios settings (As a new BIOS profile if your bios supports multiple profiles) and exit bios.

Boot into the Windows desktop environment. Download and install Prime95 version 26.6.

Download and install either HWinfo or CoreTemp.

Open HWinfo and run "Sensors only" or open CoreTemp.

Run Prime95 (ONLY version 26.6) and choose the "Small FFT test option". Run this for 15 minutes while monitoring your core/package temperatures to verify that you do not exceed the thermal specifications of your CPU.

(This should be considered to be 80°C for most generations of Intel processor and for current Ryzen CPUs. For older AMD FX and Phenom series, you should use a thermal monitor that has options for "Distance to TJmax" and you want to NOT see distance to TJmax drop below 10°C distance to TJmax. Anything that is MORE than 10°C distance to TJmax is within the allowed thermal envelope.)

If your CPU passes the thermal compliance test, move on to stability.

Download and install Realbench. Run Realbench and choose the Stress test option. Choose a value from the available memory (RAM) options that is equal to approximately half of your installed memory capacity. If you have 16GB, choose 8GB. If you have 8GB, choose 4GB, etc. Click start and allow the stability test to run for 8 hours. Do not plan to use the system for ANYTHING else while it is running. It will run realistic AVX and handbrake workloads and if it passes 8 hours of testing it is probably about as stable as you can reasonably expect.

If you wish to check stability further you can run 12-24 hours of Prime95 Blend mode or Small FFT.

You do not need to simultaneously run HWinfo or CoreTemp while running Realbench as you should have already performed the thermal compliance test PLUS Realbench will show current CPU temperatures while it is running.

If you run the additional stability test using Prime95 Blend/Small FFT modes for 12-24 hours, you will WANT to also run HWinfo alongside it. Monitor HWinfo periodically to verify that no cores/threads are showing less than 100% usage. If it is, then that worker has errored out and the test should be stopped.

If you find there are errors on ANY of the stability tests including Realbench or Prime95, or any other stress testing utility, you need to make a change in the bios. This could be either dropping the multiplier to a lower factor or increasing the voltage while leaving the multiplier the same. If you change voltage or multiplier at ANY time, you need to start over again at the beginning and verify thermal compliance again.




For full testing procedures, check my guide. Ignore the fact that none of the images are currently working. You can thank Photobucket for doing the same thing to tinypic that they did to Photobucket a while back, and breaking the internet all over again.

 
Solution

ProPlayerGR

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Aug 7, 2016
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Quick and dirty overview of overclocking validation procedure.

Set CPU multiplier and voltage at desired settings in BIOS. Do not use presets or automatic utilities. These will overcompensate on core and other voltages. It is much better to configure most core settings manually, and leave anything left over on auto until a later point in time if wish to come back and tweak settings such as cache (Uncore) frequency, System agent voltage, VCCIO (Internal memory controller) and memory speeds or timings (RAM) AFTER the CPU overclock is fully stable.

Save bios settings (As a new BIOS profile if your bios supports multiple profiles) and exit bios.

Boot into the Windows desktop environment. Download and install Prime95 version 26.6.

Download and install either HWinfo or CoreTemp.

Open HWinfo and run "Sensors only" or open CoreTemp.

Run Prime95 (ONLY version 26.6) and choose the "Small FFT test option". Run this for 15 minutes while monitoring your core/package temperatures to verify that you do not exceed the thermal specifications of your CPU.

(This should be considered to be 80°C for most generations of Intel processor and for current Ryzen CPUs. For older AMD FX and Phenom series, you should use a thermal monitor that has options for "Distance to TJmax" and you want to NOT see distance to TJmax drop below 10°C distance to TJmax. Anything that is MORE than 10°C distance to TJmax is within the allowed thermal envelope.)

If your CPU passes the thermal compliance test, move on to stability.

Download and install Realbench. Run Realbench and choose the Stress test option. Choose a value from the available memory (RAM) options that is equal to approximately half of your installed memory capacity. If you have 16GB, choose 8GB. If you have 8GB, choose 4GB, etc. Click start and allow the stability test to run for 8 hours. Do not plan to use the system for ANYTHING else while it is running. It will run realistic AVX and handbrake workloads and if it passes 8 hours of testing it is probably about as stable as you can reasonably expect.

If you wish to check stability further you can run 12-24 hours of Prime95 Blend mode or Small FFT.

You do not need to simultaneously run HWinfo or CoreTemp while running Realbench as you should have already performed the thermal compliance test PLUS Realbench will show current CPU temperatures while it is running.

If you run the additional stability test using Prime95 Blend/Small FFT modes for 12-24 hours, you will WANT to also run HWinfo alongside it. Monitor HWinfo periodically to verify that no cores/threads are showing less than 100% usage. If it is, then that worker has errored out and the test should be stopped.

If you find there are errors on ANY of the stability tests including Realbench or Prime95, or any other stress testing utility, you need to make a change in the bios. This could be either dropping the multiplier to a lower factor or increasing the voltage while leaving the multiplier the same. If you change voltage or multiplier at ANY time, you need to start over again at the beginning and verify thermal compliance again.




For full testing procedures, check my guide. Ignore the fact that none of the images are currently working. You can thank Photobucket for doing the same thing to tinypic that they did to Photobucket a while back, and breaking the internet all over again.

Thank you man, I appreciate your help. This was the guide I was looking for.